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Chapter Overview
Chapter 1: AudiobookHub Recommendation
Chapter 2: The author was arrested after leaving her son in a car for a few minutes, though the situation posed little obvious risk.
Chapter 3: Responses to the author’s ordeal were mixed and frequently hostile, leaving her with an enduring deep sense of shame.
Chapter 4: Parenting has grown far more anxious and hands-on as our attitudes about having children have shifted.
Chapter 5: Parents’ fears in the United States are frequently misplaced and centered on threats that, in reality, indeed carry very low risk.
Chapter 6: We invent fears to validate moral judgments about other parents we believe are somehow inadequate.
Chapter 7: Lower-income mothers are far more likely to face society’s harsh judgments about their parenting decisions.
Chapter 8: Parents are denying children the freedom they need to have fun and to learn the skills required to become adults.
Description
Small Animals (2018), explores how parenthood has become an exercise in fear, anxiety and constant intervention. Drawing from the author’s own parenting experiences, it explores how our perceptions of risk have become so distorted that we intervene, meddle, watch and manage our children’s lives at the cost of their freedom, fun and health.
Who Should Listen
- Parents who value their children’s independence and freedom
- New parents
- Anyone interested in how fear and moral judgments are entwined in today’s society